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My little space on the web where I blog about comics and comic books, drawing and illustration, graphic design, writing stories, and a few tips and tutorials from time to time about them. I'll also share bits about movies, theater, music, (maybe even cooking!) and whatever strikes my fancy.

The feature-rich color-screen iPad, which conveniently looks like a widened iPod Touch, has a suggested retail price of $499 for the 16GB model, thus trouncing the $489.00 Kindle DX and most other tablets and e-readers in the market. It looks really, really enticing. I can hear little I- want-one's coming in from all over the globe.

Time was when you either had a PC or an Apple, a PC smartphone or an iPhone.

But with the iPad... you either choose to have it or nothing at all. At least until someone attempts to lock horns with it.

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT – SMART PARENTINGAt least a Bachelor's/College Degree in Creative Writing, Journalism, or any related course. Excellent communication and WRITING skills.Female; 21 years old and above. Know how to write and should be very knowledgeable in parenting issues and / or concerns. Dynamic, creative and flexible.Interested and knowledgeable in parenting issues and / or concerns. EDITORIAL ASSISTANT – COSMOPOLITANAt least a Bachelor's/College Degree in Creative Writing, Journalism, Fashion, or any related course. Excellent communication and WRITING skills.Female; 21 years old and above. Know how to write and possesses a keen interest in trends pertaining to the content of the magazine.Dynamic, creative and flexible. EDITORIAL ASSISTANT – STYLEBIBLE…

From Yahoo! News: "...a Taiwanese-American strategy consultant who goes by the Web handle "jozjozjoz," thought it was funny that the camera had difficulties figuring out when her family had their eyes open. So she posted a photo of the blink warning on her blog under the title, "Racist Camera! No, I did not blink... I'm just Asian!" "

Shown here are two panels I'm quite proud of (click on the image to enlarge). I took some time thinking about how to compose them and what sort of props would go into them, down to the pattern on Gwyneth's goblet. I also like how cleanly my lines ended up, like Ada's hair and the little basket filled with sewing thingies. I wish all the panels of the book would come out this way.

The punchline? These panels are "rejected." They will never see print.

Not to say that they're not good enough. It's just that they didn't fit anymore. When I painstakingly reworked the script, a very draining activity, this simple event -- Gwyneth talking to Ada and Dodong in the living room -- didn't happen. Sort of a "Sliding Doors" moment, and the rest of the first two chapters changed for the most part. Hopefully for the better of the whole.

There are times when we need to change the way we do things if we intend to move forward. The first way, the most comfor…

Story ideas are everywhere. You can 1) go over the news; 2) recall a special event in your life; 3) recall a special event in a friend's life; 4) go through history books, etc. Then you ask a lot of "what if" questions. Chances are, you'll find a story hook that'll interest you enough to expand into a full plot.

However, not all story ideas will sell. Even the best-laid plans for Hollywood movies don't translate to record-breaking, not even modest, returns. So why invest all that time and energy on a story that's not going to fly?

Of course, many aspiring creators have their dream projects. And there may be a chance that these projects can get them somewhere. But this post assumes that you're stuck and would really need a nice kick in the brain for a story idea that can get people interested.

According to Amazon, the following magazines top their subscription sales list, in no particular order:

"But let’s say some rich guy, heir to hectares and hectares of sugar cane plantation, or the business mogul of the chain of super malls decides to don a cape and mask to swing from building to building, beating up chumps who mug people for a living. Would that make for a Filipino superhero?"

There will be creative writers who may scoff at the idea of writing for a market, but it is the practice of the mainstream publishing industry to pour their resources on material that has a good chance of being picked up. While industry observers have noted that developing technologies (such as e-readers, electronic delivery, and the renewed interest in tablet computers) and business models (like print-on-demand) would eventually widen the opportunities for vanity and self-publishers, there still remains the question: Will a sizeable number of people buy this book?

If you're a graphic novelist and you want your work to sell, it would be prudent to take your concept and see what kind of audience you're servicing. This is opposed to choosing a profitable market and tailoring a story for them. The latter case is the realm of commissioned work, or for those who are really into the business side of storytelling, but the former case can help you keep a tight focus on the boundaries w…

Billboard magazine recently released its Top 100 Lists for the decade 2000-2009. In there you'll find artists who still have a strong foothold in the current music scene, as well as artists who aren't as active, if at all.

There's a bit of a furor erupting about the suggestive billboard of whitening product GlutaMax. The billboard features popular radio DJ Mojo Jojo in what appears to be a "morning after" shot, complete with blurred beefy "borta" in the background. (The above image was lifted from the blog Victorina.)

Here are my reactions to the material:

1) "Wow, we can do that now?"2) "Wow, that layout is kinda off. And beefy borta looks like he was added in during post-production."3) Me being snide: "So with GlutaMax, one can feel gay each day?"

Of course, only the malicious (including me) would think that the good disc jockey had sex with beefy borta, and woke up the following morning with a healthy white afterglow. But really, this ad is far less suggestive than those steamy biggie-sized Bench underwear billboards. In fact, saying that Mojo Jojo had a massage in one of 'em white-walled spas would not be too far-fetched for this material. (Unle…

Tanghalang Pilipino’s 23rd Theater Season (2009-2010), which pays tribute to “Women of Substance”, culminates with Rody Vera’s Tatlong Mariya, an adaptation of Three Sisters, the timeless classic by Anton Chekhov.

Using contemporary language, Vera’s brilliant rendering breathes an entirely new, maybe even irreverent interpretation of Chekhovian characters that are teeming with the heavy human emotions of despair, hope, boredom, longing, anger and love. From turn-of-the-century Russia, the play will move to a remote small Northern Luzon town during the first decade of Martial Law. Tatlong Mariya portrays the life of the Ballesteros sisters, as they struggle to liberate themselves from the dreariness and hopelessness of their provincial existence, and yearn for the excitement of Manila, where their once happy and respectable life used to be.

The play will be presented in a theater-in-the-round setting, making the production more challenging for the director and the performers, and more ex…

After helming the critically-acclaimed production of Atang: Dulang may Musika, director Alexander Cortez returns with Ang Muntik Nang Di Mapigilang Paghahari ni Arturo Ui*, an adaptation of the play by Bertolt Brecht. The play chronicles the rise of mobster Arturo Ui in Chicago during the Depression, as he orchestrates his control over the local green-grocery trade before eventually facing his own psychosis. Audiences will note the parallels between Brecht's play with the story of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.

Filipino adaptation by Katherine Sabate, Patrick Valera and Joshua So, music composition by Diwa de Leon and choreography by Dexter Santos. Musical Direction by Krina Cayabyab, lighting design by John Batalla, special effects…

I've had a long and fruitful career in graphic design, article writing, and magazine art direction, and I've dabbled in theatre acting, playwriting, and teaching in university. But Fate led me to making comics, where I've found unexpected and flattering success.